The judges, who were originally watching the performance, instantly sat up straight, with eyes that burst into a startling brilliance, looking at Tang Shu as if they were appraising a piece of jade just unearthed.
If it wasn’t for the party opposite having immense composure, they would have likely lost their cool under the collective gaze of seven or eight people.
It seemed as if everyone had forgotten that they were in the midst of an audition. They imagined seeing Zhang Zijun before a village set against the backdrop of lush green mountains, conversing with over 300 households in the village, capturing the emotions of the young woman at the time vividly with just a glance.
"This is Zhang Zijun!"
Today, Tang Shu was wearing a casual winter outfit from the COOL brand—a white shirt paired with loose black pants with her three thousand strands of hair tied into a ponytail—momentarily transporting the judges to Dahe Village.
Without the slightest sense of dissonance.
"Wow, both my hands and feet are getting excited!"
"Tang Shu’s infectious strength is so powerful, we’ve been unwittingly drawn in?"
"You might not believe it, but this is the first time I can’t even write a comment... Forget it, I won’t write any."
Screenwriter Ning, holding a signing pen, tapped several times without figuring out what to write and simply threw the pen aside.
"Old Yuan, what do you think?"
"I thought you would have seen it by now?"
The two exchanged glances, instantly understanding each other without words.
The five-minute prepared monologue didn’t actually have much screen time, amounting to just a dozen or so lines. Tang Shu finished conveying the emotional nuances and interpretation in three minutes.
Following the chief director’s command, Tang Shu reined in the emotions of Zhang Zijun, took a slight bow to the audience, and stepped back to wait for the results.
The director, suppressing the joy that was about to spill over, took out two scripts from the folder beside him.
"Here are two more scenes, Miss Tang can choose either one to try."
His cautious attitude indicated that Tang Shu needed more display of her acting skills to convince him of this decision, while Screenwriter Ning suggested that he hadn’t had enough of her performance and didn’t mind another scene.
Tang Shu took the two A4 papers, and having read through the screenplay before, she browsed it briefly and knew which scenes the lines on them were from. She decisively chose one.
"I’d like to perform scene 25."
The director’s expression paused for a moment, instantly filled with curiosity, as the others in the Judges’ Area sat up straight again, displaying intrigued expressions.
You see, those two A4 papers were from different scenes, with scene 25 being quite early on where Zhang Zijun hasn’t even started working at the factory to become a state-owned enterprise employee; the other was scene 364, almost reaching the grand finale.
Normally, if choosing between the two scenes, actors would normally go for the more challenging one, obviously the latter, and the three actors who auditioned before Tang Shu had also chosen the latter.
But, did this actress not see it that way?
Screenwriter Ning smiled, "Why would you choose this one? I’d like to know your reasoning."
"I’m sure the judges are thoroughly familiar with every auditionee’s resume. Compared to scene 364, I believe the judges would prefer to see me perform scene 25. Of course, I also want to take this opportunity to prove to the judges that I can portray both the naive Zhang Zijun and the weathered Zhang Zijun well."
"Well said, we are looking forward to your performance."
Several nodded silently, indeed they were all familiar with the resumes of the five candidates.